Solving Cases is My Daily Life Now: Volume 3

Chapter 19

    Rina seemed to feel in higher spirits the next morning, or perhaps she was simply convincing herself that she was. But as she walked to school that morning, a lot of the things she'd recently been dwelling on were absent in her mind. In truth, Rina found herself worrying about Masaru coming over to her house! When she got home the night before, she took special care to clean her room and hide anything embarrassing. But she couldn't shake the feeling that he would see something she didn't want him to. Rina likely would have kept on worrying about such things if Suzu hadn't approached her, patting her shoulder like she always did.
"H-hello, Rina!" She said with a warm smile.
"Oh, hey." Rina said, turning to look at her friend.
"You seem to be more ch-ch-chipper this morning." Suzu pointed out.
"Chipper?" Rina repeated, "That isn't exactly the word I would use."
"Hm...energetic, th-then?" Suzu asked.
"That's probably more accurate." Rina said, "Masaru's coming over to my house for the case today, and I'm worried I might embarrass myself."
Rina looked at the ground but, when she noticed Suzu wasn't replying, she glanced over at her. Suzu was staring at Rina, her mouth slightly agape.
"He's...h-h-he's going to your..." Suzu put her face in her hands and squealed loudly.
"Don't make such a big deal out of it!" Rina said quickly, Suzu's reaction only making her more anxious.
"S-s-sorry, but...you two, alone in your r-room...it's finally happening!" Suzu said, clapping her hands together, "Think of all the p-p-possibilities!"
"None of the possibilities you're thinking of are even close to reality." Rina said, her face warming up as she briefly thought of said possibilities herself, "You're just making me more nervous!"
Suzu giggled and rubbed her pink cheeks as they approached the school entrance.
"You two seem to be having a good time this morning." Katsuo said, looking over at them.
"You could say that." Rina said as she walked by him.
"R-Rina is about to have the b-b-best day of her life!" Suzu exclaimed.
"Oh yeah?" Katsuo asked as he followed them, "Why's that?"
"Don't ask." Rina said with a frown, "She's just being crazy."
Suzu simply made a sound, swooning as impure thoughts flooded her mind.
"Ok..." Katsuo said after watching Suzu for a moment.
"So what'd you end up doing yesterday?" Rina asked, glancing back at Katsuo.
"Eh. I couldn't find anything to do, so I went by the club room and hung around with Suzu." He said.
"He helped me c-c-clean!" Suzu said.
"Don't tell her that." Katsuo groaned, putting his face in his palm.
Rina smiled, she was glad that Suzu was finding ways to have fun. It was almost a certainty that the recent events had taken their toll on her as well, but seeing Suzu smile and laugh with others set Rina's worries at ease.
"Well, if you ask Masaru, I'm sure he'd be ok with having two maids." Rina joked.
"As if I'd want to be his maid!" Katsuo growled, "Not that I want to be a maid at all. But especially not his."
Rina and Suzu laughed, prompting an irritated sound from Katsuo.
"Will you be in the club room today?" He asked Rina.
"Not today." She said, shaking her head, "I have plans already."
"Plans with Masaru?" Katsuo asked, his voice growing quieter.
"Yeah." Rina said, not wanting to be more detailed than that.
Katsuo was silent for a moment, and when he finally spoke up, his voice had returned to normal.
"Gotcha." He said simply.
Not long after that, they reached the classroom, where they parted ways with a quick wave and a goodbye.

    "S-s-so have you thought of how you're going to seduce M-Masaru once he's in your r-room?" Suzu asked when she sat down with Rina at lunch.
"I haven't." Rina said in a dull tone, "Because I'm not going to."
"C-come on, Rina!" Suzu said, "As d-d-different as he is, Masaru is still a b-boy. Just use your f-f-fe-feminine wiles on him."
"I think you underestimate how abnormal Masaru is." Rina said, "Besides, what feminine wiles?"
"You're very p-p-pretty! You could probably get even M-M-Masaru to do whatever you w-want!" Suzu said.
Rina felt a muscle in her eyebrow twitch.
"For the last time, nothing is going to happen!" She said a bit loudly.
"Nothing will happen when?" Masaru asked.
"When Masaru-" Rina stopped herself as she realized who asked that question.
She looked to her right to see Masaru standing there, looking at her with a raised eyebrow.
"When you...come to lunch." Rina made up a lie, "Suzu wanted you to eat with us again, but I thought you wouldn't do it."
Masaru looked over at Suzu, who nodded, picking up on the fib.
"Well, I truly have nothing better to do." He said, pulling up a seat, "So I don't mind staying."
Rina handed him his bento and stared down at her desk, her face burning and her chest pounding. She just came very close to embarrassing herself! Eventually she managed to calm herself down, though it didn't last long thanks to Suzu's decision to speak.
"So you're going to R-R-Rina's house today?" She asked, a strange glint in her eye as she looked at Masaru.
Rina's heart began to beat harder as Masaru looked over at Suzu.
"Yeah. Apparently Wu is going over there today, so we're going to use the opportunity to gain more information." He explained.
"Oh, I s-see." Suzu said, "Does it m-m-make you nervous to go to a girl's h-house?"
"Not particularly." Masaru said, "I'd been in Emiko's room many times when she was there."
"That's n-n-not the same thing, Masaru!" Suzu said, "Rina's not your s-sister. She's a high school girl, and y-y-you're going into her room! Don't you un-understand the implica-implications?"
"I'm not following your train of thought." Masaru said, taking a bite of his food, "We're just working on a case, and the case happens to be taking us to Rina's house."
Suzu let out an exasperated sigh.
"Just let it go, Suzu." Rina said, shaking her head.
Though in truth, she was a bit disappointed in his response as well.
"Are you going to be coming with us today, Suzu?" Masaru asked, still looking down at his bento.
Suzu looked over at Rina, and smiled knowingly.
"N-n-no, I'm busy today." She said, putting some of her own food into her mouth, "You two can g-g-go on your own."
"Very well then." Masaru replied, seeming nonplussed either way.
"I hope you two have f-fun!" Suzu said.
"As I said, it's a case. So it's unlikely that it will be particularly fun." He said in a dull tone.
"St-still, though!" Suzu said, "I'm sure you two will find a way."
"Maybe so." Masaru replied casually.
Rina smiled, it might have been for less than innocent reasons, but at least Suzu was trying to help her. The rest of lunch went on with similar comments and small talk, and when it was over Masaru left to make his way back to his class.